Rand Paul drops out of 2016 presidential race

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a GOP presidential candidate who was popular in rural Nevada, suspended his campaign Wednesday.

The announcement came on the same day that former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania ended his GOP presidential bid, throwing his support behind U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, also a Republican, ended his campaignTuesday night.

Paul, a Kentucky resident, was unable to finish the work started by his libertarian father, former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who unsuccessfully sought the presidency in 2012.

The younger Paul attracted widespread attention in small towns such as Pahrump, where the Nye County Republicans voiced suppport and planned to back Paul in the Feb. 23 caucuses, as they did with the father in 2012.

Paul waged a longshot bid whose success would have hinged in part on a contingent of Ron Paul suporters in Nevada, which will be the first state in the West to hold a 2016 caucus or primary election later this month. Paul pulled the plug on his race after placing fifth in Iowa on Tuesday, getting just 4.5 percent of that state's Republican vote.

"It's been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House," Paul said in a statement Wednesday. "Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty.

Paul's speeches had blasted the National Security Agency for collecting phone records of U.S. citizens without a warrant and called for curbing federal spending to match revenue. Saying his message resonated with young people, Paul said: "Brushfires of Liberty were ignited, and those will carry on, as will I." 

He was widely viewed as a more mainstream candidate compared to his father, one who could appeal to libertarian-minded voters but also attract other Republicans. The elder Paul ran for president in 2008 and again in 2012.

In Nevada, Ron Paul placed second to Mitt Romney in 2008, with almost 14 percent of the vote to Romney’s 51 percent. Four years, later, Romney won 50 percent, Newt Gingrich came in second with 21 percent, and Paul was third with 18 percent.

His son didn't get far enough for a comparison.

"His campaign never caught fire," said Fred Lokken, political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.

The younger Paul was more pragmatic, but just wasn't connecting with people the same way that Ron Paul's ideology did.

"That happens from father to son," Lokken said. "The support doesn't always get passed down."

Paul's Nevada ride was sometimes bumpy.

Paul attracted national attention and criticism from Democrats after a June 2015 campaign stop in Mesquite, where he had a private meeting with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy in April 2014 was the center of an armed standoff with federal agents near Bunkerville who rounded up his cattle because he didn't pay grazing fees for use of public lands. Bundy, who had shown up at the campaign stop without expecting a meeting, said he visited with Paul about 45 minutes about public lands and state sovereignty issues.

Bill Carns, chairman of the Nye County Republicans, said both Pauls brought a message of liberty that resonated with many in the county.

"People have a liberty mindset," Carns said of Nye County. "We carry guns, we'll smoke cigarettes out on the street. We're not as cosmpolitan as the metropolitan center of Las Vegas."

The father had a strong and effective ground game, but one that didn't necessarily reflect the son's four years later.

"It seems as though the Rand Paul campaign wasn't headed necessarily by the most experienced that have done this before," Carns said, adding that they were "not necessarily people that had proven track records."

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1